Zorin 7 core setup advice

Let me start by saying I am not concerned about messing something up and everything important to me (data and OS wise) is backed up many times over. That said I plan to go full machine Zorin install after running a few test installs and "taking my lumps" through a learning curve for a few weeks.

For now I have a decision to make before wiping it all away and going to Zorin in a couple of weeks.

Choice:

1. Place Zorin on a spare partition that I have available, but this config presents another simple hurdle that I have to jump. I can easily install Zorin on this partition BUT I'll need to create a simple boot flash (grub) so that I can mount Zorin using the flash. The machine in question is fully TC encrypted other than this small partition and I don't want to mess with changing the bootloader on the drive. I am curious as to how the speed will compare with a regular install. Since Zorin is actually installed on the sata and I am mounting with the flash, I suspect it will operate at great speed. This will be a decent machine running either an i5 or i7 chip with 4-8 gig of Ram. I have two to choose from.

2. Place Zorin on a USB 3 external drive and boot from the same flash as above. I'll need to confirm Zorin actually connects at USB 3 speeds, but if it does I suspect the speed would be decent there also.

3. Use a USB 3 flash (32 - 64 Gig) and install Zorin completely on that. I am not too fond of this idea but it would be simple to do

4. VM - I am not interested unless that is an absolute beginner starting point. I have used VM's for years with BackTrack.

I would be interested in hearing some advice mostly on the comparisons between choice 1 or 2, but I am open to others as well. Again, this is temporary until I gain the confidence to go full on Zorin or other distro's as my skill advances.

Would the performance/speeds be good using option 1 or 2? Advice?

 

I forgot to mention that I am actually considering using Zorin 6 because it is an LTS release. 7 actually loses support in a month or so, while 6 is until 2017.

So consider my original post and questions for version 6 as well. I am going to pull it through the pipe later and then I'll have both to pick from.

 

yes you can have both setups if you install on usb then make sure you install grub on usb boot disk space to make it easy sdc(0,0) or sdb(0,0)


partition part is also easy and available you can install it on partition it also easy


now install grub where ever you want but you need to update-grub to find other partition


1st easy and correct way

1st make usb your default 1st boot and it install grub in usb drive when you connect it before booting your pc it auto take your default usb grub over grub installed on your local partition so you loginto encrypted usb OS and from there you can access your local disk partitions too.........


second way is when you want to access your encrypted drive just plug usb after booting your local os local partition ...........and when you mount encrypted partition it will ask you for paraphrase(password)......etc and you can access it.

unless you make home partition unable to access from outside it will work after encryption key login during mounting.

 

So far I am running Zorin 6.4 (Ubuntu 12.04) on a dedicated external drive. I am pretty sure that I am making a few mistakes and I plan on blowing this away starting fresh after I "nick it up" for a week or so. LOL!!

Its really faster than 7 64 and I am amazed at how smoothly the hardware on my laptop is responding driver wise right out of the box. When I did the install I placed the bootloader directly on the external so it comes right up when I boot the machine. Just enter my password and away I go.

Tons of software to figure out how to load. Reading till my eyes bleed. After dealing with the printer ink issue my next task is to figure out how to install Office 2007 Enterprise from the iso disk I have. This one has the "product key" already on it and you don't even need to enter it. Nice. I do know the key # if linux requires it though. I'll be reading about this for a day or so before trying to install it. I only want to do Word and Excel not the full suite on this OS. I don't expect to be spoonfed, and in fact I hate the thought of it. However; if anyone has some linked info to save me some time that would be appreciated. Its fun to be learning again. After decades with network engineering on windows this fresh start is nice!


Thought and question: I am on full usb 3 hardware including the WD external. Does Ubuntu do a good job of setting up usb 3 protocol or do I need to attack that as well? I am still too novice to approach that yet, but the thought just crossed my mind so I wanted to ask.

 

Play on linux made installing Office as easy as it is in windows. Done.